Sheet stack feed device with shiftable throat restrictor

ABSTRACT

The disclosure embodies a V-shaped sheet stack hopper having a downwardly directed opening at its apex. At the apex of the hopper, and in part forming one of the walls thereof, is a shiftable or positionable restricting member which forms a card restricting outlet with a resilient tire of a card feed roller. Mounted on the hopper and supporting the positionable restricting member is a body on which there is an adjustment member operable to establish a set restriction with the tire, corresponding to a given card thickness. Also mounted on the body is a shifter member by means of which the positionable member may be readily shifted to change the restriction to one for accommodating cards of other thickness.

United States Patent 72] Inventor Paul John Thut Penfield, N.Y. [21]Appl. No. 767,310 [22] Filed Oct. 14, 1968 [45] Patented Feb. 16, 1971[73] Assignee Burrough Corporation Detroit, Mich.

[54] SHEET STACK FEED DEVICE WITH SHIFTABLE THROAT RESTRICTOR 2 Claims,6 Drawing Figs.

[52] 11.8. CI 271/41 [51] B65h 1/06 [50] Field ofSeai-ch 271/43, 36, 29,39, 44, 41, 61, 62;

[56] v References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,515,986 11/1924 Wright271/41 2,755,910 7/1956 Crawford 2,726,862 12/1941 Anderson PrimaryExaminerRichard E. Aegerter Attorneys- Kenneth L. Miller and Frank H.Cullen ABSTRACT: The disclosure embodies a V-shaped sheet stack hopperhaving a downwardly directed opening at its apex. At the apex of thehopper, and in part forming one of the walls thereof, is a shiftable orpositionable restricting member which forms a card restricting outletwith a resilient tire of a card feed roller. Mounted on the hopper andsupporting the positionable restricting member is a body on which thereis an adjustment member operable to establish a set restriction with thethe, corresponding to a given card thickness. Also mounted on the bodyis a shifter member by means of which the positionable member may bereadily shifted to change the restriction to one for accommodating cardsof other thick- IICSSCS.

PATENIEU FEB] em 3563531 Q sum 1 I]? 3 INVENTOR.

PA UL J. THUT.

SHEET STACK FEED DEVICE WITH SHIFTABLE THROAT RESTRICTOR SUMMARY OF THEINVENTION The invention resides in the provision of an improved stackfeeding device wherein the improvement is a shiftable sheet restrictionmember to readily change the restriction to one of a number of differentsize restrictions.

In the prior art it has been proposed that the feeding of one documentat a time by a sheet feed device be assured by providing a restrictingthroat through which only one document of a specified thickness canpass. The aperture of such a throat is either fixed at the time of itsconstruction or is provided with the type of adjustment having infinitepositions of adjustment.

The first proposal has the disadvantage of limiting the feed deviceapplication to documents of only one thickness. The second proposalprovides for the use of documents of different thicknesses in the feeddevice, but has the disadvantage of requiring a time-consumingadjustment involving a precise measurement of the throat aperture eachtime documents of a different thickness are to be fed. 7

Accordingly, it is an object of the'invention to provide a mechanismwith which the aperture of the restricting throat of a sheet feed deviceis readily adjustable by a shiftable throat restricting member inpredetermined increments corresponding to the differences in knownthickness of the documents to be fed.

In The Drawings:

I FIG. 1 is a fragmentary side view, partly in section, of a sheet feeddevice embodying features of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary elevational view, taken in the direction of thearrows 2-2 of FIG. 1

FIG. 3 is a sectional view, taken along the line and in the direction ofthe arrows 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view similar to FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a perspective and partiallyexploded view, and FIG. 6 is a sideview. v

' With reference first to FIG. I, the sheet feed device includes asupporting means 12, a sheet hopper 14, a sheet feed roller 16, and ashiftable sheet restricting member s designated generally by the numeral18. The hopper 14, the feed roller 16, and the restricting member 18 aremounted on a pair of upright plates 20, of which only one is shown, ofthe supporting means 12. The restricting member 18 is disposed adjacentthe feed roller 16, and both are effectively positioned below the hopper14, as shown in FIG. I.

A horizontal driven shaft 22 is journaled on the upright plates 20 andmay be driven by any suitable electric motor. The shaft 22 has affixedthereon the feed roller 16 which is provided with a resilient tire 23. v

The hopper 14 includes a first inclined plate 24 which is mounted on theupright plates -20,'the lower edge of the plate 24 having a clearanceopening 25 to receive the periphery of the feed roller 16. A secondinclined plate 26 is mounted on the upright plates 20 to form, with thefirst inclined plate 24, the hopper 14 which, as shown in FIG. 1, isV-shaped having a downwardly directed apex.

A second driven shaft 27, below and parallel to the driven shaft 22, hasaffixed thereon a feed roller 28 which cooperates with a pressure roller29 to transport sheets fed from the hopper. The pressure roller 29 ismounted on a lever 30 and a tension spring 31 urges the pressure rolleragainst the feed roller 28.

A third inclined plate 32 is mounted on the upright plates 20 below thesecond inclined plate 26, its lower length extending below the feedroller 16 and adjacent to the bight of the drive roller 28 and thepressure roller 29.

As shown in FIGS. 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, the restricting member If; is in theform of a bar having a beveled end 19 disposed toward and locatedadjacent the periphery of roller 16 to form a sheet restriction passagetherebetween. Screw-threaded into the other end of the bar 18 is one endof a rod 38 which has a knob 40 for conveniently rotating the rod.Adjacent the knob 40, the rod 38 has an annular flange 41 at the upperend of the mount 33 and overlying the flange there is a retainer plate43 which is secured to the mount by screws 44 for normally hold ing therod against accidental rotation.

A stationary base or bracket 45 is mounted on the second inclined plate26, and the mount 33 is supported and slidably guided therebetween. Therestricting member 18 is normally secured to the mount 33 by a screw 34for movement together, clearance being provided in the bracket 45 by anaperture 46. Screws 47 are screw-threaded into the bracket 42 and theheads of these screws overlap the mount 33 to retain the latter in thechannel-shaped bracket, as shown in FIG. 5.

An adjustment or shifter member 48 is provided to shift the sheetrestricting member 18 to a selected one of a number of positionsrepresentative of different sheet thicknesses and is rotatably mountedin a boss 49 provided on the underside of the bracket 45. The shiftermember 48 has a cylindrical body 50 is rotatably received in a bore 51in the boss 49 which bore extends at right angles to and beneath therestricting member 18. Directly beneath the restricting member 18, thecylindrical body 50 of the shifter member 48 is provided with a numberof lands or flat cam portions 52, 53 and 54. These flat portions areformed on and circumferentially positioned about the periphery of thecylindrical body 50. The chords of the flat portions 52, 53 and 54increase successively from the portion 52 having the shortest chord andthe portion 54 having the longest chord, thus providing a series ofsteps. A depending stud 56 secured to the restricting member 18 extendslaterally of and adjacent the flat portions 52, 53 and 54 such that byrotating the shifter member 48 the restricting member 18 may be shiftedto any one of a number of positions with respect to the sheet feed wheel16. The flat portions 52, 53 and 54 are representative respectively ofdifferent thicknesses of sheets which may be used in the stacker. A coilspring 57 urges the restricting member 18 leftward as viewed in FIGS. 3and 4 and thus yieldably urges the stud 56 against a selected one of theflat portions 52, 53 and 54. One end of the spring 57 abuts an extension58 of a bracket which is secured to the mount 33 by screws 58'.

One end of the shifter member 48 is provided with a knob 59 forconvenience of rotating the shifter member 48, and provided on the otherend of the shifter member there is a form of detent to hold the shiftermember 48 yieldably in its set position. The detent comprises ahexagon-shaped member 60 affixed to the shaft of the shifter member 48and a pawl 61. As shown in FIG. 6, the pawl 61 is held against one ofthe flat hexagonal faces of the member 60 by a coil spring 62.

OPERATION With reference to FIG. 1, sheets or documents 64 are loadedinto the V-shaped hopper 14 formed by the first inclined plate 24 andthe second inclined plate 26, the documents 64 oriented to lie parallelto the first inclined plate 24. The lowermost document 66 will, by forceof gravity, assume a position immediately adjacent to the first inclinedplate 24 such that the lower edge of the document is adjacent to theperiphery of the feed roller 28.

To begin feeding documents, the feed roller 16 is driven in acounterclockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 1. The frictional force thefeed roller tire 23 exerts on the documents 73 will drive it downwardthrough the restriction 68 formed between the feed roller 16 and therestricting edge 19. The restricting member 18 is adjusted relative tothe feed roller 16 such that only one document can pass therebetween.The document 66, still being driven by the feed roller 16, is deflectedby the lower curved portion 70 of the second inclined plate 26 and thethird inclined plate 32 toward the drive roller 28, which drives it fromthe feeder, The document 64 immediately adjacent to the previously feddocument 66 will then, by force of gravity, assume the position,previously vacated by the document 66, adjacent to the first inclinedplate 24, with the lower edge of the document adjacent'to the feedroller 16.

A single document 72 may be fed directly by inserting it along the theupper surface of the third inclined plate 32 as illustrated in FIG. 1.Thedocument 78 will travel downward, under the force of gravity,untilits lower edge reaches the drive roller 28, which will drive thedocument 72 from the feeder.

With reference to FIG. 3, the restricting member 18 and its mount 33 aredepicted in their maximum extended position with respect to the bracket45, which means that the shifter member flat portion 52 is against thestud 56. This will provide the smallest feeder throat clearance desired.As shown, the stud 56 secured to the mount As shown, the stud 56 securedto the mount 33 is yieldably biased against the periphery of thecamshaft 48 by the action of the spring 57 acting in longitudinalopposition between the bracket 45 and a projection 58 secured to themount 33.

To feed documents of the next greater thickness desired, the shiftermember 48 is rotated clockwise until the next flat portion 53 isadjacent to the stud 56. Since the flat portion 53 is closer to the axisof rotation of the cylinder of shifter member 48 than is the peripherythereof, the mount 33 and the restricting member 18 secured'thereonwill, by virtue of the force exerted by the spring 62 on the projection58 fixedly attached to the mount 33, retract with respect to the bracket45. This setting will provide the second-smallest feeder throatclearance desired. Any subsequently desired settings may be establishedby rotating the shifter member 48 progressively clockwise so thatsuccessive flat portions, each a selectively predetermined distance fromthe axis of rotation of the shifter member 48, will be positionedadjacent to the stud 56.

The maximum feeder throat clearance is obtained when the shifter member48 is rotated until the cam surface presented to the stud 56 is thesurface which is the minimum distance from the axis of rotation of theshifter member 48. This condition is depicted in FIG. 4.

As can be seen in FIGS. 2 and 6, each setting of the restricting member18 is maintained by the pawl 61 yieldably biased against a flat surfaceof the member 60 by the spring 62.

With reference to FIG. 3, an initial setting of the feeder throatclearance is accomplished by rotating the shifter member 48counterclockwise until its cylindrical periphery is presented to thestud 56. After the screws in retainer plate 44 securing one end 38 ofthe adjusting shaft 38, and the screw 34, securing the restrictingmember 18 to the mount 33, are loosened, the rod 38 is rotated, thuslongitudinally shifting the restricting member 18 with respect to themount 33 by virtue of the opposite end of the adjusting shaft 38 beingthreaded into the restricting member 18. Assuming a right-hand thread, aclockwise rotation of the rod 38 will retract the restricting member 18with respect to the mount 33, thus increasing the feeder throatclearance. Conversely, a counterclockwise rotation of the rod 38 willproduce the opposite result. The rod 38 is rotated until the feederthroat clearance corresponding to the thickness of the thinnest documentto be fed, plus any necessary tolerance, is obtained. The screws for theretainer plate 44 and screw 34 are then tightened to preserve thesetting.

lclaim:

l. A sheet feed device comprising a hopper having a downwardly directedopening, a sheet feed roller external of said hopper at the downwardlydirected opening, a movably mounted sheet restricting member cooperablewith the periphery of said roller to form a passage restricting thefeeding of sheets singly therethrough, said restricting member beingdifferentially positionable toward and away from the periphery of saidroller, and a rotatable cam operatively connected to said sheetrestricting member to shift the latter and having a number of landsspaced about the cam periphery at different radial distances from theaxis of rotation of said cam correspondin to different thicknesses ofsheets.

2. A sheet eed device as defined by claim 1 with the addi-

1. A sheet feed device comprising a hopper having a downwardly directedopening, a sheet feed roller external of said hopper at the downwardlydirected opening, a movably mounted sheet restricting member cooperablewith the periphery of said roller to form a passage restricting thefeeding of sheets singly therethrough, said restricting member beingdifferentially positionable toward and away from the periphery of saidroller, and a rotatable cam operatively connected to said sheetrestricting member to shift the latter and having a number of landsspaced about the cam periphery at different radial distances from theaxis of rotation of said cam corresponding to different thicknesses ofsheets.
 2. A sheet feed device as defined by claim 1 with the additionof yieldable means holding said restricting member in engagement with aselected one of the lands of said cam.